Short Summary

Senior Urban officials from twelve French-speaking African states have been meeting in Lome to discuss large city administration Africa.

Description

Senior Urban officials from twelve French-speaking African states have been meeting in Lome to discuss large city administration Africa.

The participants in the conference are spending a week in each of four cities -- Lome, Algiers, Kiel (West Germany) and West Berlin. During their stay in each city, they will be examining the way mit functions.

The conference has been organised by the African Centre of Training and Administrative Research for Development. (CAFRAD) and the West German Foundation for International Development.

The opening session, in Lome, was opened on 11 March by the Togolese Interior Minister, M. Joseph Bagnah. One of the delegates in Lome told the conference that urban decentralisation and agricultural development were the keys to solving the problems of Africa's rapidly swelling cities. Dr. Said Ben Bachir from Morocco added that "the trouble lies in the rural exodus, which outstrips the capacities of the city as regards to accommodation and employment". The solution to the problem, felt Dr. Bachir, "was to keep the agricultural worker in the countryside by modernising agriculture and education and establishing urban centres in the various regions of the country."